Hermione Granger sighed as she walked down the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was in her seventh year, and the war was over. It had been a year since Harry, Ron, and her, along with the help of the Order and hundreds of other good witches and wizards, had defeated the evil Lord Voldemort. Unfortunately, along with the evil, good had fallen too. Lupin and Tonks. Fred. Professor Snape. Lots of people had died. After the war, Ron and Harry had decided to start their careers as Aurora for the ministry. Of course, Hermione had been the only one who wanted to go back with Ginny's class and finish her schooling. After all, how would she have a career at the Ministry of Magic without being properly educated? So she had enrolled in her best friend Ginny's year and went back. School had just started. Today was officially the first day and Ginny and Hermione only had one class together. Hermione thought of Ginny and smiled. It was a wonder that Ginny was still her friend after everything that had went down with Ron, Ginny's brother and one of Hermione's best friends. It hurt to think of Ron. Of course, they were still friends but it was never the same. They had kissed at the Battle of Hogwarts when they had thought they were going to die. Hermione had thought Ron had kissed her back out of love, but apparently he didn up't love her. He told her this after the war, explaining that he only kissed her back to be polite. Hermione had been heartbroken of course, but she would be okay. The breakup had solidified her decision to come back to Hogwarts. At that moment, she tripped and her books flew out of her hands. "Ugh." She said, getting off the ground. She picked up her books and looked up to see none other than Draco Malfoy. Oh great, just who I wanted to see, she thought sarcastically. She looked down and saw that his foot was stuck out. So Malfoy had tripped her. Of course. "Oh, my what a klutz you are Granger." Draco said, snickering. She turned to glare at him. He smirked at her and she scoffed and walked off. Who did Draco Malfoy think he was? Tripping her in the hallways? Jerk. Had he forgotten that time she had punched him in the face? Maybe he needed to be reminded, she thought, gritting her teeth. She shook her head, trying to shake her thoughts of him away. She walked into her classroom, a new class called Life Skills. It was supposed to be a Muggle Studies class, and Hermione was glad. She already knew enough about Muggles, because her parents were Muggles. She had lived with them her entire eighteen years. She knew how to cook, clean, and sew, the Muggle way. She also knew the witch way, but she preferred the Muggle way. Perhaps it was just because of the way she was raised. She looked around the class for familiar faces, but she saw only one, Draco Malfoy. And beside him, was the only desk open. She sighed and stomped over to the desk, slamming her books onto it. Draco, who was sitting at the desk writing, turned to look. When he saw her, he sneered. "What do you think you're doing here, Granger?" He asked in a voice like ice. She scoffed. "My schoolwork, I'll have you know. If you don't like me sitting here, well there's the door." She said, pointing towards the door. He rolled his eyes and looked towards the door as it burst open. In walked a young, handsome guy. He only looked to be about twenty one years old. "Wow." Hermione said under her breath. Draco heard her and turned towards her. "Oh, does Granger have a crush?" He said mockingly. Hermione glared at him. While she was glaring at him, she noticed unwillingly that he was rather good looking. His place blonde hair, that was almost white, was styled perfectly. And his green eyes were like looking into a pool. You never knew what you were going to see there. She could just dive right in. Of course there were some room for improvements. His nose wasn't the straightest, and some other things were out of line. Hermione groaned inwardly. Oh, who was she kidding? He was flawlessly gorgeous. Her attention was brought back to the new professor as he stared to speak. "Hello, class. My name is Professor Moony. I will be teaching you Muggle Studies. We will be learning how to do things the Muggle way." Professor Moony said, and she saw Draco tense up at the word Muggle. Of course, she hadn't expected him to change. Harry had saved his life from the fire and Draco was still uncivil. Cold. Cruel. "Ok, class. First I would like you to shake hands with the person in the desk beside you. Give just met your permanent partner." Professor Moony said. Hermione and Draco looked at each other with expressions of horror. No. This could not be happening. Why couldn't she have gotten paired with someone, anyone else? Hermione sighed and held out her hand, determined to at least he civil. Draco scoffed, but took her hand. As soon as her hand touched his, she felt a bolt of electricity run up her arm. What was going on? She looked away, dropping her arm. Draco was looking down at his parchment, his face stony. Professor Moony exclaimed his approval at everyone and then he started to write something on the board in chalk. Hermione waited for him to be done and then gaped at what she saw. No. No. No. Everyone in class gasped. The words written were : Your assignment is to move in with your partner. The teacher, having heard the exclamations of confusion and dismay, held up his hand. "Everyone, settle down. The words on the board are true. Your assignment will be for you and your partner to move into a living quarters together. This will help each and every one of you to get along. " Professor Moony explained. Hermione rose her hand. "Excuse me, Professor? Isn't it a bad idea to place a boy and a girl in a room together?" She asked, blushing. The other kids groaned at her; they probably didn't mind being in a room with the opposite sex. Draco snickered. Professor Moony sighed. "No. There has been charms placed in the quarters so that no um adult stuff will happen. Now, as you can see, in each group there is a Muggle born. This was not coincidence, it is all a apart of the assignment. These pairings will help you to learn to get along with your fellow witches and wizards, no matter what their blood status is." Professor Moony stated. Normally, Hermione would have loved this assignment. It would really help pure bloods and half bloods to understand Muggle borns better. But she wished her partner wasn't Malfoy. She could already tell this wasn't going to be easy. She would be lucky if Malfoy even talked to her. Hermione sighed as the Professor further explained the assignment. After class, the partners would be shown to their new living quarters. When class ended, all of the pairs had to line up. Hermione stood by Draco, but kept her distance. He seemed to be staying away frok her too, judging by how far away he was leaning. Well, he would have to get over it. After all, we will be living together soon. Hermione and Draco reached their quarters and Draco breezed in. Hermione followed after him, not happy at all. For one, there was only one bed. And there was a couch. All of her stuff had been moved. All she had to do now was unpack. She walked stiffly over to her trunk. She heard Malfoy muttering to himself. She caught three words. "Stupid.... MudBlood... Granger." That was ENOUGH! Hermiome stood up and stomped over to where Draco was standing. Without thinking she brought a hand to his cheek. His head snatched to the side and he grasped his cheek, which had a red spot on it. She gasped. "How dare you, MudBlood?" He screamed at her. She gasped. "Don't call me that, jerk!" She screamed at him. His face was red. They both stood there staring each other down for a minute. "I can't believe I got paired with You!" Draco said venomous. Hermione scoffed. "Well, this isn't exactly the pairing I desired either, Malfoy." She said, fuming. Draco spun around and stomped off. "Don't sat another word to me! You stupid MudBlood. All you are is worthless. That's why Weasley didn't want you. That's why Potter didn't want you. You are trash. MudBlood trash." He said, his face mere inches from hers. Hermione sucked in a breath. How dare he? "Don't say their names! Don't call me a MudBlood. I can't believe you. I wish Harry would have left you and your friends in that fire!" She said, glaring at him. He glared back at her, his mouth open. She turned and stormed out of the room. There was no way in hell that she was doing this assignment with him. She was going to get out of this. She hated him. All he would ever be was a bully. A jerk. A cruel Death Eater. But he wasn't a Death Eater. He was supposedly changed. But he hadn't been showing any signs of goodness. In fact, he had been showing the opposite. His very existence irritated Hermiome, and she knew that she could never be in the same room as him again. Because no matter how much she hated him, she had felt something when they touched hands.